MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK AND INDIA

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MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK AND INDIA
AUTHOR Dr .A. K. AVASARALA
MBBS,M.D. PROFESSOR HEAD, DEPT OF COMMUNITY
MEDICINE EPIDEMIOLOGY PRATHIMA INSTITUTE OF
MEDICAL SCIENCES, KARIMNAGAR,A.P.. INDIA
91505417 avasarala_at_yahoo.com
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PROMPT

• Medical social work, a powerful weapon to realize
  comprehensive and qualitative health care is
  used only in a few limited fields and less used.
• It needs boosting up and revitalization,
  particularly among the medical students, doctors
  and health planners.
• This thought prompted me for the development of
  this lecture

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Learning objectives

• What is medical social work?
• What are its guiding principles?
• What are its working principles and methods?
• Its usage in India?

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Performance objectives

• Learner should be able to
• Practice Direct and Indirect assistance methods
  of Medical social work to realize qualitative and
  comprehensive health care .

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Definition

• It is the application and adoption of the method
  and philosophy of social work in the field of
  health and medical care.

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Definitions

• Branch of social work and deals with the social,
  physical and psychological aspects of patient.
• Social work in medical setting
• Using relevant social skills and knowledge to
  help the patients

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History and background

• 1880-1900 In England, after the mental patients
  were discharged, visitors and nurses were asked
  to give advices to them .
• Dr. Charles Emerson , USA opined that medical
  science should also include the study of
  emotional and social problems.
• He suggested that medical students should work as
  volunteers under the charities and agencies.

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History and background

• Year 1905 Boston medical institutions appointed
  MSW (medical social worker) for the first time
• In India, Tata Institute of social sciences had
  taken up the lead medial social work.

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Fink ,the Sociologist

• Life is a series of interruption and
  recoveries.
• Man is a unity of mind and body and medicine must
  consider this unity.
• Physiology, chemistry and biology cannot alone
  or together explain all intricacies of illness.
• The disturbances of mind and body cannot be dealt
  with separately. They form the two phases of a
  single problem.

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Nature and Scope

• Medical social work is based on the assumption of
  the individuals dignity
• Guided and inspired by basic values social work

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Nature Scope

• According to medical social work--
• health refers to that state or condition, in
  which an individual is capable to utilize all the
  capacities of his social living.

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Nature and scope

• Medical social work considers human health with
  a broad perspective.
• The treatment is not the final solution for
  illness in medical social work.
• Disease and diseased person are different from
  each other.

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Nature and scope

• Medical science gives emphasis on the disease but
  ignores the importance of the diseased person.
• But the medical social work studies the diseased
  person viz. the social aspect of the disease.

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Nature and Scope

• Medical social work deals with
• the prevention of disease,
• after care of the patients and
• social rehabilitation of patients,
• --and not just limited to the treatment of
  disease.

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Uses

• To discover the social and psychological
  background of a patient
• To make the patient free from his psychological
  tensions
• To discover the psychosocial factors of the
  illness

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Working concept

• Medical social work deals with the those problems
  of the patient which are related to the physical
  and psychological environment
• It is oriented towards the assistance of those
  people, who during their treatment, face social,
  physical ,economic and psychological problems.

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Working principles

• mainly social techniques and mostly
  humanitarian in nature.
• By enabling the patient for solving his problems
  (building up his capacities)
• By determining the social and psychological
  influence.
• By developing the willpower and determination of
  the patient

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Working principles

• 4)By enabling the patient to adjust with his
  problems.
• 5)By developing proper environment

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Working methods

• Case study method,
• Direct method of assistance
• Indirect method of assistance

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Case study method

• By, case study method, MSW collects information
  with regard to the specific needs of the patient
  and works towards their fulfillment in
  accordance with the available means

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Direct methods of assistance

• MSW is directly involved in the assistance.
• Social case work- Assistance is provided to the
  individual patient with the aim of developing his
  inherent capacity

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Direct assistance

• Social group work-
• Medical social worker tries at strengthening the
  social relations of the patient and works towards
  the development of a healthy social environment

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Indirect methods of assistance

• Community organization
• Social administration
• Social insurance and social security
• Social action
• Social work research

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Indirect assistance

• Community organization organization of
  community resources with regard to health
  problem by MSW
• Social administration MSW guides the public
  opinion for enactment of new social legislations
  or any amendment in prevailing legislations
• Social security insurance enabling the patient
  to utilize the facilities under social security
  and insurance by MSW

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Indirect assistance

• 4)Social action MSW participates in the
  movements of social action at the national
  (national health programme involvement) and
  international levels( world health days)
• 5)Social work research MSW inspires surveys
  and investigations regarding the social ,economic
  and psychological problems of the patient

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Medico social work in India

• Less importance was given to this important
  branch of health promotion
• Tata institute of Social Sciences is only
  pioneering and struggling in this field
• Less awareness and practice of this very useful
  extension of health care delivery in India
• most of the national health programmes are
  running at a snail pace due to non- use of this
  field of medicine.

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Medico social work in India

• Medical social work is limited to few areas of
  health care in India ---
• Department of Sexually transmitted diseases
• Department of pediatrics
• Department of community medicine
• Department of obstetrics

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Summary

• Medical social work is a very powerful and
  essential branch of medicine for realizing a
  comprehensive and qualitative health care.
• As long as it is considered as an offshoot of
  social work, it draws little attention by the
  medical personnel and health planners. This is
  the problem in India.
• Time has come to consider it as a part and parcel
  of medical and health care.

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References.

• Paul Chowdhary, Introduction to social Work
  third revised edition, Atmaram sons, Delhi,
  Lucknow